Review. The Fables of Reason: A Study of Voltaire's 'Contes Philosophiques'. Pearson, Roger

Betts, C. J.

doi:10.1093/fs/49.1.75

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Et cela non seulement parce que, par leur condition sociale basse et le motif du voyage à travers le monde qui leurs sont communs, Ayesda et Damir font inévitablement penser à Candide, d'ailleurs assez fort inspiré par le modèle du protagoniste du roman picaresque. Tout comme va le faire Voltaire après lui, Montesquieu se sert de la forme du conte afin de transmettre des idées à portée universelle (Pearson, 1993). Certes, on croit découvrir au premier abord dans son ouvrage une critique de la société.…”

unclassified

From the "Persian Letters" to Montesquieu’s "True Story": Reiteration or Literary Evolution?

Matyaszewski

2024

lsmll

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The immense success of Montesquieu’s Persian Letters (1721) paradoxically overshadowed all his subsequent fictional productions. Such was the fate of his True Story, an orientalising tale that was not published until the end of the nineteenth century, long after his death. The present study aims to show the originality of this work by Montesquieu, in which the author draws on both Lucian’s ancient True Story from the second century and borrows the theme of reincarnation from Thomas-Simon Guelette’s Marvelous Adventures of the Mandarin Fun-Hoam (1723). The aim is also to discover the debt it undoubtedly owes to the picaresque novel, which was very fashionable at the time, and to prove to what extent it prefigures the philosophical tale practiced by Voltaire. Montesquieu’s True Story is a highly original and innovative literary work, which fully deserves to emerge, at last, from the shadow of the Persian Letters.

show abstract

unclassified

From the "Persian Letters" to Montesquieu’s "True Story": Reiteration or Literary Evolution?

Matyaszewski

2024

lsmll

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Review. The Fables of Reason: A Study of Voltaire's 'Contes Philosophiques'. Pearson, Roger

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

From the "Persian Letters" to Montesquieu’s "True Story": Reiteration or Literary Evolution?

From the "Persian Letters" to Montesquieu’s "True Story": Reiteration or Literary Evolution?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About